Nov 23, 2013 3 min read

With the main portion of deer season right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about what to do if you find yourself with too much venison.

Hunters Sharing the Harvest, now in its 22nd year, continues to be one of the most successful programs in the state of providing for food banks across Pennsylvania thanks to the donations of many hunters each year. Last year, hunters donated more than 100,000 pounds of venison.

The program allows hunters to donate all or a portion of their kill when they are processed at participating shops. The meat is then distributed to more than 4,000 local food assistance provider organizations.

If the entire deer is donated, the hunter is asked to make a $15 tax-deductable donation to help defray the processing cost.

There are five local deer processors participating in the program this year.

In Washington County, processors taking part in the program are Bobeck Deer Processing (Donald Bobeck, 724-258-2298) in Monongahela; Lenick’s Deer Processing (Ron Lenick, 724-348-7019) in Finleyville; and Shuba’s Processing (Steve Shuba, 724-255-4861) in Washington.

In Greene County, a pair of Carmichaels processors, Billy Crick’s Hungarian Smokehouse (724-966-7704) and Ethan Virgilli’s Virgilli’s Deer Processing (724-883-0462) are participating.

For more information about the program, visit the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s web site or call 1-866-474-2141.

• The Frazier-Simplex Rifle Club won the first big meeting of the year against the Dormont-Mt. Lebanon Sportsmen’s Club Wednesday night in the Pittsburgh and Suburban Rifle League, puling out a one-point victory on an off-hand tiebreaker.

Frazier-Simplex (5-0) shot a 1,483, while Dormont-Mt. Lebanon (4-1) notched a 1,482. The scores for the two Washington County teams were the highest shot in the league this season.

Tommy Santelli led Frazier with a 299, while Zac Szabo and John Husk shot 297, Tom Morley 296 and Morgan Duerr and Sara Sroka 294.

Matt Piatt had high honors for Dormont-Mt. Lebanon, shooting a 298. Tom Gerner and Amy Smith fired 297s, Dean Trew 296 and Jason Piatt 294.

Santelli won high individual honors for the week, while Smith was high female shooter. Duerr and Sroka tied for high junior honors, while Greene Valley’s Cal Roberts was high senior with a 296.

• For those hunters unable to grow a beard for deer season or those who just want to look like one of the guys on Duck Dynasty, a company has come up with a product called the Beardski.

The product is made of thermal fleece with a waterproof neoprene lining that covers the head and face. But it also includes a nice, long, fuzzy beard to cover the front neck as well. You can find them at Beardski.com.

Outdoors Editor F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.